War and Industry: Lille at the Crossroads

This article examines the city of Lille as a point of cultural, economic, social and political intersection between the Low Countries and France. It focuses particularly on the effects of the industrial revolution and the occupation of the region during the First and Second World Wars, in terms of changing patterns of migration, trade, social exchange and cultural and linguistic practice, as well as the influence of political thinking, involvement, and practice and their relationship to and influence upon cultural development and the formation of identity, both national and municipal.